“The Louvre, Afternoon, Rainy Weather” was one of the first group of paintings Camille Pissarro made after he and his family moved to their new apartment on the Île de la Cité in November, 1900. Formerly, a part of the collection of The Corcoran Gallery of Art, it has just been hung in its new home at the National Gallery of Art, ( West Building, Gallery M-89) Washington, DC. (See it on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nationalgalleryofart?fref=ts)

Among their Pissarro paintings, the National Gallery has two others made in Paris: “Boulevard des Italiens” (1897) and “Place du Carrousel, Paris” (1900), a view of the Louvre in the spring from his former apartment on Rue Rivoli. (See those on the website of the National Gallery of Art by searching for Camille Pissarro works.)

This paintings is obviously a view from the apartment’s front window because it includes a corner of the Place du Pont-Neuf where the statue of Henri IV is located. It appears that a rain storm has just passed, leaving the surface of the Place wet and shiny. Pissarro painted this same view many more times before his death in 1903, depicting it in every possible weather situation and with varying boat traffic in the river.

The composition of this painting is determined by the motif. The corner of the Place on the lower left side gives the painting a decidedly asymmetrical feel, suggesting an imaginary diagonal line pointing towards tthe Louvre in the middle right side. The two boats shown steaming toward the bridge suggest another imaginary diagonal from right lower corner to middle left side, forming an X across the painting. The bridge cuts across the diagonals virtually through the middle of the canvas, its severity softened by the graceful arches.On the left, the curved branches of thetrees echo the arches.

The hand of the master is most evident in the surface of the Place and the water, each of them composed of countless brushstrokes. The shiny orange surface of the Place actually includes shades of coral, yellow, lavender, pink, white, and brick red. The complimentary dark blue of the woman’s dress intensifies the orangey tones. The choppy waters of the Seine are depicted in shades of gray, ranging from nearly white to dark slate. Tiny streaks of deep blue are complemented with pale dashes of dark orange.

This is one of Pissarro’s paintings that really must be seen in person—but then, wouldn’t we prefer to study all of them in person?